I would like to tell you a story. This story isn’t about my zoo at all. It’s about what is above it; the sky. The sky at night is the most wondrous wilderness. The lights that hang there, which from below look incredibly small; are actually bigger than elephant ears. They are giant golden torches that illuminate the worlds.
There are millions of stars in the sky and I can only see a few of them from my zoo. However I did get to know one of them very well.
Look up into the sky and, if you’re very well behaved, I will introduce you to the Wonky Star.
“What is the Wonky Star?” you ask. Well I may be the only zookeeper in the world who can tell you.
The Wonky Star is a shooting star that at night travels the Universe, looking for friends. The Wonky Star’s points are all different. One point is short and chunky, another long and thin. The Wonky Star finds it hard being different and so it moves from galaxy to galaxy hoping to meet other imperfect stars. For centuries and centuries the Wonky Star looked for other unsymmetrical stars until one night, when he was tired from flying through the sky, he stopped by our moon for a rest.
I often stare in wonder at the majesty of the sky. However it was a coincidence that on the very night the Wonky Star came to rest above our zoo, I looked up and said “my, what a beautiful starry night.” Imagine my surprise when the star talked back to me!
“Do I spoil it? Should I move on?” said the Wonky Star, in a small, sad voice.
“Of course you don’t spoil it. You’re beautiful, just like all the other stars.” I replied.
“But look at my strange points” the star sighed.
“Do you really look different from the other stars?” I asked. The Wonky Star looked around at the other stars in the sky. “There.” I said. “Look at that one close to you, to your right, shining in the distance about 30 million light years away. I think he has a long point too. Besides you both look radiant from my perspective!”
“You are right!” The Wonky Star exclaimed excitedly. “I think I have found my home. Do I really look beautiful from down there?”
“You all do. Stars aren’t created with a ruler. They all have their long points and short points and the light of every star is precious. Sometimes we can be too close to our-selves to be a good judge of who we really are. If you ever lose faith in your own beauty all you need to do is ask someone who can look at you from another view, just like I’m looking at you now.”
Written by Joshua Davidson